Congress Is Encouraging Women to Join the Aviation Industry
Jackie Reddy January 05, 2018
Young woman in international airport looking at the flight information board, checking her flight
The goal of these bi-partisan pieces of legislation is to offer women more opportunities to succeed in a traditionally male-dominated industry.
It is hoped by members of Congress that two bills currently being actively debated will encourage more women to enter the aviation industry, AirlineGeeks reports.
According to the outlet, the first bill, known as the Promoting Women in the Aviation Workforce Act, “aims to enlarge the footprint of women in the generally male-dominated industry.” This legislation was jointly sponsored by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
According to the text of the bill, “Women make up over 50 percent of the national workforce, but are significantly underrepresented in the aviation industry. Women represent only two percent of airline mechanics, four percent of flight engineers, five percent of repairmen, 26 percent of air traffic controllers, 18 percent of flight dispatchers, and six percent of pilots.”
In the wider sense, the bill urges “that the aviation industry should explore all opportunities, including pilot training, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education, and mentorship programs, to encourage and support female students and aviators to pursue a career in aviation.”
The second piece of legislation, known as House Resolution 4254 or the Women in Aerospace Education Act, was presented to Congress’s lower chamber in 2017 by Representative Stephen Knight, (R-Calif.-25). It is co-sponsored by Representative Elizabeth Etsy (D-Conn.-05).
According to its text, the goal of this bill is, “To amend the National Science Foundation Authorization Act of 2002 to strengthen the aerospace workforce pipeline by the promotion of Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and National Aeronautics and Space Administration internship and fellowship opportunities to women, and for other purposes.”
Both pieces of legislation are currently under review by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, but it is hoped that they could serve as the groundwork for greater opportunities for women within the aviation industry.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Funny, an overwhelming majority of airline personnel from phone reps to FAs are women. Maybe instead of promoting further sexism, the government would do better to simply insist the best qualified person be selected for the job.